Method and apparatus for inexpensively monitoring and controlling remotely distributed appliances

ABSTRACT

A method and associated apparatus are described that enables unattended, remotely distributed appliances, such as vending machines, utility meters, thermostats and kitchen appliances (ovens, washing machines, refrigerators, etc.) to be connected inexpensively to each other and to a centrally located server. The apparatus 1) uses relatively simple “personality” modules to adapt the apparatus to the application in combination with a sophisticated core module that provides the intelligence needed to process data locally, to format that data and to transfer it to a remote server and 2) uses existing Internet-based communication links, thereby avoiding the costly proprietary links used with current state-of-the-art solutions.

CROSS REFERENCE To RELATED APPLICATION

This is a continuation of a commonly-owned, U.S. patent application Ser.No. 10/298,300, filed Nov. 18, 2002 now U.S. Pat. No. 7,444,401, whichis herein incorporated by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to both wire-based and wireless communicationsystems and, in particular, to such systems used to collect data fromunattended devices and to control the configuration and operatingparameters of such devices.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Unattended devices such as vending machines and utility meters allrequire periodic servicing. Vending machines need to be serviced, on aroutine basis, often daily, regardless of their need to be replenished,to collect the cash deposited into the machines and to check theirinventories. Many businesses have widely dispersed points of sale thatmust currently be monitored by employees who periodically travel tothese sites to collect receipts and replenish stock. Others depend oncustomers to report the need for service ore maintenance or forinformation updates. Utility meters have to be read periodically,usually once each month. These activities take a significant amount ofeffort and represent significant expense to the vending machineoperators and utility companies. This expense could be greatly reducedby monitoring such devices remotely. Vending machines would need to beserviced only when the inventory actually needs to be replenished, thecash container is nearing capacity or the machine is malfunctioning.Meters could be read without requiring someone's physical presence atthe site.

Similarly, the ability to control devices such as thermostats fromremote locations would enable building managers and utility companies tomanage energy consumption dynamically, thereby moderating demand andsubstantially reducing the cost to the consumer. Building managers cancontrol the environments and monitor security in clusters of buildingsmuch more efficiently if this can be done remotely. Other devices, suchas kitchen appliances and cash registers can also benefit from remotemonitoring and control by, for example, enabling manufacturers tomonitor malfunctions and schedule repairs or by providing real-timecash-flow information. Appliance manufacturers can improve customersatisfaction by monitoring their installed appliances and dispatchservice personnel even before the customer is aware of a problem.Another area in which remote monitoring can be useful is in a home andbuilding automation. Such capability would allow travelers or homecaretakers to check the temperature in their living rooms and to adjustthe heating or air-conditioning accordingly so that it will becomfortable when they arrive home and to open or close drapes or turn onor off the lights remotely to give the appearance of an occupied houseor to ensure that their house plants receive the correct amount of sun.

Current techniques to provide such remote monitoring and controlcapabilities typically rely on proprietary radio-frequency networks,often with limited range, thereby still requiring personnel to travelphysically to the site to drive a specially equipped van to within a fewhundred yards of the site, or to use private radio frequencies orthird-party communication links. Other techniques rely on the presenceof a personal computer at the site to provide a communication linkbetween the device of interest and the remote location. In addition,these current techniques require expensive communication hardware,thereby greatly limiting their use in price-sensitive applications. Theyare also typically tailored to specific applications.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A three-level architecture is disclosed whereby remotely distributed,unattended appliances such as vending machines, utility meters,thermostats and ordinary household appliances can be inexpensivelymonitored and controlled from a central site. The apparatus needed toimplement the first level, the device level, consists of:

-   -   a. a relatively simple and inexpensive device communication        module (DCOM) that is tailored to each application and used to        convert between the data protocol native to the appliance (e.g.,        DEX, the data-exchange protocol used in many vending machines or        the electrical pulses found in utility meters) to a special        protocol used for connecting one or more DCOMs over a local-area        network to a module, called the cluster communications module        (CCOM), capable of communicating both with the DCOMs and with a        central server over the Internet;    -   b. a CCOM, serving as a master of the aforementioned local-area        network and accommodating a plug-in core modules (CM);    -   c. a CM that is implemented with any one of three Internet        access formats, one (the CM-T) having a 56 Kbaud telephony        interface, a second (the CM-E) having an Ethernet interface for        accessing the Internet over a cable or digital subscriber loop        (DSL) and a third (the CM-G) having a GSM/GPRS (Global System        for Mobile communication/General Packet Radio Services)        interface for accessing the Internet using either of those        mechanisms;    -   d. a CM that, additionally, contains both a digital signal        processor (DSP) chip for modulating and demodulating and        otherwise processing communication signals, a central processing        unit (CPU) for data formatting and processing , a flash memory        for storing data processing programs and a random-access memory        for storing received data

The second level of the architecture, the server level, features acentrally located server, accessible over the Internet by a plurality ofCCOMs and by a plurality of users equipped with standard personalcomputers or handheld Internet access devices. The server implementsapplication-specific data mining, formatting and user interface programsthat enable users to access, in an accessible format, that informationthat is most useful to them. Its database is updated from its associatedCCOMs either periodically, on an event-driven basis or on demandsrelayed to the CCOMs by the server.

The third level in the disclosed architecture, the user level, comprisesa plurality of users, each equipped with an Internet access device, suchas a personal computer or standard handheld device such as a Palm Pilotor an IPAQ, and running application-specific programs providinguser-readable access to relevant information stored in the server. Inaddition, depending on the application, users are able to send commandsthrough the server to individual CCOMs and, through them, to individualDCOMs, to control such things as item pricing, set points on thermostatsand other switch settings.

Advantages include cost savings from reducing or eliminating entirelythe need to send personnel to customer sites on a regular basis. Suchcost savings can be realized with automatic, remote monitoring, enablingnecessary data to be read at a central location, possibly requiring aworker's physical presence only when someone breaks or needs to bereplenished. Vending machine companies and utilities are two examples ofbusinesses that can realize substantial benefits through remotemonitoring. The cost of the enabling apparatus can be made low enough tobe paid for by the cost-savings. The need to customize devices forspecific applications and the need to travel to within a certain radiotransmission range of the controlled device can be eliminated.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 illustrates the three levels of the inventive system architecturealong with the communication links connecting them.

FIGS. 2 a-2 c show a flowchart describing a procedure whereby data istransferred from a device to a central server where it can be accessedby a authenticated user.

FIGS. 3 a-3 c show a flowchart describing a procedure whereby commandsare transferred from a user through a central server to a specificdevice or subset of devices.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a generic device communications modulealong with insets showing some of the available options.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a cluster communications module alsoshowing some of the available options.

FIG. 6 a is a block diagram of a core module having a GSM/GPRSinterface.

FIG. 6 b is a block diagram of a core module having an Ethernetinterface

FIG. 6 c is a block diagram of a core module having a telephonicinterface.

FIG. 7 shows a typical handheld computer display in a vending machineapplication.

FIG. 8 shows a typical handheld computer display in an electricalmetering application.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

As illustrated in FIG. 1, the present invention is based on athree-level architecture: device level, server level and user level. Thedevice level is composed of the physical entities (100-106) beingmonitored or controlled remotely (e.g., vending machines, utilitymeters, thermostats, etc.) The user level is composed of the interfaces(e.g., 129, 130; which may be Palm Pilots or PCs, etc.) through whichthe user communicates with the system. The server level refers to thecentral computing facility (128) to which data is transmitted and storedand from which control signals are sent to the devices and formattedinformation is sent to the user. Communication between the device andserver levels and between the server and user levels takes place overthe Internet using standard Internet protocols and procedures.

The inventive apparatus at the device level consists of embeddedhardware that links the appliance with the Internet. The basic hardwarebuilding block is a relatively simple, customizable board, called adevice communication module (DCOM). Each DCOM (107-112) contains a powerconverter and logic to provide physical and electrical interfaces to theappliance or appliances of interest. It communicates with one or moreassociated appliances using physical connections (e.g., serial RS232 orRS485 lines, TTL ports, power line carrier (PLC) links) andcommunication protocols (e.g., X.10 commands in home automationapplications, the DEX protocol in vending machine applications)particular to that device. The DCOMs in turn use a dedicated,bidirectional, communications protocol, the DCOM/CCOM protocol (DCP), tocommunicate with a module (119-121) centrally located at the same site,called a cluster communication module (CCOM), over a local-area network(LAN) using any of several physical links (113-118), for example,ISM-band RF links, RS-485 links or power-line carrier (PLC) links,depending on the nature of, and facilities at, the site in question. TheDCP supports both a master/slave and a peer-to-peer communications mode,the latter used primarily in those environments in which multiple CCOMsare present and, for reliability purposes, it is advantageous to alloweach DCOM to communicate with an alternate CCOM should it not be able toreach its primary CCOM. The DCOM contains sufficient processing power toconvert data received from its associated appliance into a formatappropriate for communication over the DCP and for converting commandsreceived from the CCOM into appropriate control signals back to theappliance. Since each DCOM module contains only that logic needed toconvert between the physical-and link-level appliance and DCP protocolsand to serve as a slave on the LAN, it can be very small, of the orderof two to three square inches, and sufficiently inexpensive to beincorporated into appliances such as thermostats without prohibitivelyincreasing their cost.

In many applications, each CCOM supports a plurality of DCOMs, in somecases as many as 64 or more. In some applications, however, when devicescannot be efficiently clustered, a CCOM may be able to support only oneDCOM. In those applications, the functionality of the DCOM is integratedonto the CCOM (122), thereby eliminating the need for the DCOM as aseparate module. In other applications in which large numbers of DCOMsare deployed in a area in which the distance between some of the DCOMsand their associated CCOM may exceed the range of a single LAN, relaycommunication modules (RCOMs, not shown in FIG. 1) can be insertedbetween a cluster of DCOMs and the CCOM. Their function is simply tocollect data from each of their associated DCOMs and relay thatinformation to the CCOM. Each CCOM, in turn, can be located within rangeof a plurality of RCOMs, thereby significantly increasing the number ofDCOMs that can be supported by one CCOM.

Each CCOM communicates over the Internet (127) using any one of threewide-area network (WAN) access methods: In installations in which atelephone line is readily available, it may use a telephony link (123).In installations having cable access to the Internet, it may use anEthernet link (124). When neither of these two access methods isconvenient, it uses a GSM/GPRS link (125-126).

A flowchart of the procedure for transferring data from a device to acentral server, where it can then be accessed by an authenticated user,is shown in FIG. 2. Steps 201 through 205 (FIG. 2 a) are executed by theDCOM, steps 211 through 215 (FIG. 2 b) by the CCOM and steps 221 through225 (FIG. 2 c) by the server.

Data generated by the device is periodically collected by the DCOM inresponse to some sort of triggering mechanism, typically a clock tick orin response to a command received from a user of the system. The DCOMthen formats and stores the data (201) for subsequent retrieval. Inresponse to a query from a CCOM (202), it reformats the data fortransmission over the LAN used to communicate between the CCOM and itsassociated DCOMs (203). Alternatively, in some applications, the DCOMperiodically initiates the transfer without an explicit query. In eithercase, the DCOM checks to determine if a successful transmission wasacknowledged (204). If it was not, it retries the transmission, and, ifseveral such retries are unsuccessful and if its configuration tablesindicate that a backup CCOM is available, attempts to transfer the datato that CCOM (205).

The CCOM, on receiving new data from a DCOM similarly reformats the datafor temporary storage (211) and waits for a request for data from theserver (212). Like the DCOM, the CCOM can be programmed to initiate datatransfers to the server on a periodic basis if the application sorequires. In either event, the CCOM formats the data and transfers it toits associated server (213) and checks for the acknowledgement of asuccessful transfer (214). If none is received, it attempts aretransmission (215). If more than one WAN channel is available, some ofthe retry attempts are made using these alternative channels.

The server, on receiving the data, again reformats it (221), this timefor storage in a database that can be accessed usingapplication-specific programs. When a user application attempts to getaccess to the database (222), the access privileges of the user arefirst authenticated using standard authentication procedures (223). Ifthe user is determined not to have the requisite access privileges forthe type of access it is attempting, an “access denied” message isreturned (224). Otherwise, the data is formatted as appropriate to thespecific inquiry using an application-specific program and madeavailable to the user (225).

The procedure for sending commands from a user to a CCOM or DCOM isillustrated in the flowchart in FIG. 3. Here, steps 311 through 216(FIG. 3 a) are those implemented in the server, 321 through 326 (FIG. 3b) those implemented in the CCOM and 331 and 332 (FIG. 3 c) thoseimplemented in the DCOM.

User-initiated commands received by the server are first parsed (311) todetermine the nature of the command. The server then determines if theuser issuing the command in fact has the authority to do so (312). If itdoes not, an “access denied” response is returned to the user (313). Ifthe user has the privileges needed to issue the command, the command isformatted for WAN transmission to the designated CCOM (314) and relayedon to it. If the transmission is not successful (315) and the command isdestined for a DCOM, it checks its configuration tables to determine ifthe DCOM can be accessed through another CCOM and, if so, attempts touse that backup link (316). If its configuration tables indicate that analternative WAN is available, the server may also attempt to reach theCCOM in question through that means as well.

The CCOM on receiving the command parses it (321) to determine, amongother things, whether it is addressed to the CCOM or to one of itsassociated DCOMs (322). In the former case, it executes the command andgenerates a “command executed” message to be returned, using thepreviously described data transfer procedure, back to the server (323).In the latter case, I formats the command and transmits it to thedesignated DCOM or DCOMs (324). If a successful transfer is notacknowledged (325), it attempts to retransmit it and, if stillunsuccessful, attempts to use an alternative LAN link if one isavailable (326). In any event, it generates an error message indicatingthe number of retries attempted, the LANs used and the eventual successor lack thereof in transmitting the command to its destination.

On receiving a command, the DCOM parses and executes it (331) andcreates an appropriate “command executed message (332) to be returned tothe server, and from there made available to the user, again using thepreviously described data transmission procedure. Command execution by aDCOM may entail relaying that command to one or more of its associateddevices to, for example, control the set points on a thermostat or toswitch on or off some subset of those devices for purposes of energyconsumption management. In such applications, a DCOM is in effect agateway to its associated devices, allowing them to be controlledremotely and at the same time providing a means for collectinginformation (e.g., the rate at which energy is being consumed at anygiven time) pertaining to those devices. Furthermore, the DCOM can beprogrammed to issue commands to its associated devices autonomously,executing stored or down-loaded algorithms for changing device settingsbased, for example, on current energy consumption rates and userprofiles.

One embodiment of the DCOM is illustrated in FIG. 3. It consists of fivebasic sections: The microcontroller section (400), the LAN section(401), the device interface section (402), the service interface section(403) and the power section (404). The Microcontroller section isimplemented in one preferred embodiment of the invention with RabbitSemiconductor's model 2000 microcontroller supported by 128 Kbytes ofstatic random access memory and 256 Kbytes of read-only memory. It isused to control signal flow on the DCOM and for first-level dataaggregation, compression and protocol conversion. It can be programmedto support any device-specific communication protocol such as the DEXprotocol for vending machine applications and the X.10 command-linkprotocol. It stores behavioral parameters that control the way in whichthis data collection and processing is executed. These parameters can bemodified based on commands relayed to the DCOM from its associated CCOM.

The DCOM communicates with a centrally located CCOM over local-areanetwork (LAN). In the embodiment shown in FIG. 4, the LAN is a low-powerISM-band radio-frequency link. The DCOM communicates over that linkusing rf transceiver 407 (e.g., Atmel Corporation's model RF211transceiver) and SMA connector 408, which is connected to a half-waveantenna (not shown). This section is augmented, in the preferredembodiment, with rf microcontroller 406 (e.g., the AT mega32), used tooffload microcontroller 400 by implementing the analog-to-digital anddigital-to-analog conversion and other modulation functions needed tosupport rf transceiver 407. In other embodiments in which rfcommunication is impractical, other physical LAN links, such as BlueTooth, power-line carrier (PLC), the HPNA (Home Phoneline NetworkingAlliance) protocol, or Ethernet links (including IEEE standard 802.11 a& b wireless Ethernet) can be supported using different implementationsof LAN section 401.

Data is received from and commands relayed to its associated device ordevices through the device interface section 402, implemented in theembodiment shown in FIG. 4 with RS-485 port 414 and transceiver 413. Inapplications in which the device does not convey data through an RS-485interface, this section is replaced by an interface section tailored tothe device in question. Virtually any convenient physical link,including RS-232 and TTL links, can be supported through anappropriately modified device interface section 402.

Service section 403 is implemented with RS-232 transceiver 409 and maleDB-9 connector 410 wired in the data terminal equipment (DTE) mode. Itis used for on-site diagnostics and configuration purposes. In addition,in some applications in which data is presented by the device over anRS-232 link, this section can be used as the device interface section.

Power section 404 consists of a switching DC-to-DC regulator (411) and apower connector appropriate to the device. In some applications (e.g.,some vending machine applications), data signals may also be transferredthrough the same connector that is used for power, in which case, analternative power section such as 405 containing, in addition to thecombined power and signal connector 417 and the switching regulator 416,a set of opto-couplers 415 used to provide electrical isolation betweenthe DCOM and its associated device.

The RCOM is similar to a DCOM, and in fact can be identical to it, butwith the microcontroller program enhanced so as to support its role bothas a DCOM and as a relay between other DCOMs and a CCOM. In applicationsin which the RCOM is used purely as a relay, however, it can beimplemented as a stripped down version of the DCOM, with, for example,sections 405 and 405 in FIG. 4 removed entirely. When serving as anrf-LAN relay, it time-multiplexes its communication activity,alternately communicating with its associated DCOMs and its associatedCCOM.

The CCOM is implemented on a carrier board that contains a powerconverter and a local-area network interface enabling the CCOM to serveeither as a LAN master or as a LAN peer and thereby communicateindividually with each of its associated DCOMs. (In some applications inwhich only a single appliance is located at a site, the DCOM's deviceinterface can be integrated directly onto the CCOM carrier board,thereby eliminating the need for a separate DCOM board.) Theprogrammable computing, signal processing and communication logic thatenable the data collected from the DCOMs to be processed and relayedover the Internet to the server level and the commands received from theserver to be transferred to the DCOMs is implemented on a plug-inmodule, called the core module (CM), that is appliance independent. Inthis way, the amount of custom work needed to interface to differentappliances is kept to a minimum, thereby significantly reducing the costof the apparatus. The complexity associated with formatting, processingand storing data and supporting various communication protocols isimplemented on the CM and does not need to be physically modified tosupport different applications.

The CCOM carrier board (FIG. 5) is similar in structure to the DCOM withthe DCOM's microcontroller 400 replaced by connector 500 into which theappropriate core module can be plugged to give it both processing powerand Internet access. It contains three basic interface sections: LANsection 501 (containing microcontroller 509, rf transceiver 510 and rfconnector 511), service section 502 (comprising RS-232 transceiver 507and DB-9 male connector 508) and power section 503 (containing switchingregulator 512 and power connector 513). In applications in which aRS-485-based LAN is used rather than an rf LAN, LAN section 501 isreplaced by alternative LAN section 504 consisting of a RS-485transceiver 505 and connector 506. Each of these sections is identicalto its DCOM counterpart. Moreover, in applications in which clusteringis not feasible thereby requiring each device to have its own Internetaccess, the CCOM is implemented with the appropriate DCOM deviceinterface (e.g., RS-232 interface 403 or RS-485 interface 402).

The major difference between the CCOM and the DCOMs is in the coremodule itself. There are three versions of the CM, depending on itsmethod of communicating with the Internet: the CM-G (FIG. 6 a) is usedfor GSM/GPRS (Global System for Mobile communication/General PacketRadio Services) Internet access, the CM-E (FIG. 6 b) for Ethernet accessover a cable or digital subscriber loop (DSL) and the CM-T (FIG. 6 c) isused for telephonic access using a 56-Kbaud modem. The three coremodules are identical except for the communications interface. Each CMcontains a central processing unit 600 running a real-time kernel andhaving external address and data buses (603) to which both read-only(501) and random-access (602) memories are connected, an oscillator(604), a power regulator (605) and a connector (606) to mate with thecorresponding connector (500) on the CCOM carrier board. Read-onlymemory 601 is used to store both the operating system code and theapplication code used to aggregate, compress, format and analyze thedata received from the devices associated with each DCOM as well as thecommands to be relayed to those devices. Random access memory 602 isused for buffering data transferred to and from the central server andfor storing intermediate values calculated in processing and formattingthat data.

In one preferred embodiment of the core module, the microprocessor isimplemented with an Analog Devices Athena processor. An Athena chipincludes a 32-bit, 39 MHz ARM7 processor core, a 16-bit, 78 MHzintegrated digital signal processor (DSP), and 512 Kbytes of internalshared random-access memory. It also includes 24 Kbytes of DSP code and16 KBytes of IDSP data memory. The DSP implements low-level dataformatting and encoding and decoding operations associated with theserial digital data stream, thereby freeing up the microprocessor forhigher-level operations. These higher-level operations include dataaggregation and formatting for transfer to the central server andparsing and distributing control information received from the centralserver. Behavioral parameters that control the nature of the data to becollected by the DCOMs are also stored in the core module's randomaccess memory and, when modified on command from the central server, arerelayed to the appropriate DCOM(s), thereby enabling these parameters tobe changed dynamically.

In addition to the above, the CM-G also contains analog-to-digital (AD)and digital-to-analog (DA) converters 608 connected to themicroprocessor through its serial I/O bus 607. The AD and DA convertersare implemented with Analog Devices' Pegasus chip in one preferredembodiment of the CM-G. This chip also implements the Gaussian-filteredminimum shift keying (GMSK) modulation and demodulation required forcommunication over wireless GSM/GPRS channels. Radio-frequencymodulation and demodulation, amplification and filtering take place inrf-modem 609. The modem output is connected through rf connector 610 toa half-wave antenna (not shown).

The core module CM-E (FIG. 6 b) is used in installations, such as thosehaving cable or digital subscriber loop (DSL) access, requiring Ethernetcommunication capability. In this module, AD/DA converters 608 and rfmodem 609 are omitted and Ethernet controller and transceiver 611 andRJ-44 connector 612 are added to the microprocessor's address and databus 603. One preferred embodiment of the CM-E uses the RealtekRTL8019AS, with its fully integrated 10Base-T Ethernet controller andtransceiver, to implement this function. The CM-G's rf connector 610 isreplaced in the CM-E with RJ-44 connector 512 for connection to a10Base-T Ethernet cable.

A block diagram of the CM-T core module used for 56-Kbaud telephonicapplications is shown in FIG. 6 c. In this case, the logic represent byblocks 608, 609 and 610 in the CM-G block diagram are replaced, on themicroprocessor's serial bus, by codec 613, AD and DA converters 614 andRJ-11 connector 615. Those telephony digital signal processing functionsthat cannot be implemented in the DSP associated with microprocessor 600are implemented in voice-band codec 613 and DA/AD converters 614. Onepreferred embodiment of the CM-T module uses Analog Devices' AD1803 forcodec 613 and the Claire's CPC510 for the DA/AD converters 614.

The server level is implemented with standard, off-the-shelf serversrunning software modules including: communications modules that supportvirtually all wireless access devices using standard cable and wirelesscommunication protocols (e.g., IP, HTTP, XML); processing modules thatenable information to be presented to the user in a visually consistentmanner and in multiple languages; a system management module to enableusers and operators to specify system configurations and behavioralparameters such as alert and alarm triggers; and customization modulesparticularized to the data collection and distribution requirements ofeach application. Data received from the CCOMs can be archived on theserver and subsequently mined to discern appliance usage trends foroperations management and prediction purposes.

The user level in the architecture encompasses the set of interfacesthat enable a user of the system to gain access to the collected,aggregated and formatted data and to issue behavioral commands to anysubset of the CCOMs and DCOMs comprising the system of interest. Allstandard user Internet access devices are supported (e.g., personalcomputers, laptops, Palm-based systems, WindowsCE-based hand-heldcomputers, etc.). Depending on the application and on the Internetaccess device being used, software applications can be run on the userdevice providing even greater data access and control capability. Again,depending on the application, the user has the ability to issue commandsthat are relayed by the server to a specific CCOM, and through it to aspecific DCOM or set of DCOMs, thereby setting various applianceparameters such as item pricing in a vending machine or set points in athermostat.

A typical user level display if shown in FIG. 7. In this case, theapplication involves the maintenance of a set of vending machines andthe display is shown on a Compaq Corporation's IPAQ hand-held computer.This particular screen shows the state of the four vending machines atone particular installation, including the number and dollar value ofthe products sold at that location since it was last serviced and thecurrent inventory of each of the vending machines there, as well as thedistance between that location and the user. Users can request othermenu-driven displays, for example, an aggregation of the inventory needsof all vending machines in a given area, depending upon their needs andobjectives.

Other applications, of course, require different information to bedisplayed at the user level. FIG. 8, for example, shows a typicaldisplay for a metering application. This display shows both the currentrate of electrical power consumption at a specific site identified bythe serial number of the meter and the total consumption at that sitesince the time that meter was last reset. Other screens can be selectedto show similar information aggregated across any subset ofDCOM-equipped meters.

1. A cluster communications module, comprising: a core module, comprising a central processing unit; at least one data bus coupled to the central processing unit; a read-only memory (ROM) in communication with the at least one data bus; a random access memory (RAM) in communication with the at least one data bus; an oscillator coupled to the central processing unit; and a power regulator coupled to the central processing unit; a local area network (LAN) communication device coupled to the core module; a wide area network (WAN) communication device coupled to the core module; wherein the core module is configured to communicate data and instructions through the LAN communication device using a first communication mode, and is configured to communicate data and instructions through the WAN communications device using a second communication mode and wherein the cluster communications module at least receives messages from at least one server and retransmits the messages to at least one appliance or receives message from at least one appliance and retransmits the message to at least one server.
 2. A cluster communications module, comprising: a core module, comprising: a central processing unit; at least one data bus coupled to the central processing unit; a read-only memory (ROM) in communication with the at least one data bus; a random access memory (RAM) in communication with the at least one data bus; an oscillator coupled to the central processing unit; and a power regulator coupled to the central processing unit; a local area network (LAN) communication device coupled to the core module; and a wide area network (WAN) communication device coupled to the core module; wherein the core module transmits and receives data through the LAN communication device via a first communications protocol and transmits and receives data through the WAN communications device via a second communications protocol.
 3. The module of claim 2, further comprising a power module, wherein the power module includes a switching regulator and a power connector.
 4. The module of claim 2, further comprising a service module.
 5. The module of claim 2, wherein the ROM stores operating system code and application code used to at least one of aggregate, compress, format, and analyze data.
 6. The module of claim 2, wherein the RAM at least one of buffers data sent and received via the WAN communication device and stores intermediate values calculated in processing and formatting the data.
 7. The module of claim 2, wherein the core module is at least one of a Global System for Mobile (GSM) communication module and a General Packet Radio Services (GPRS) module.
 8. The module of claim 7, wherein the core module includes an analog-to-digital converter or a digital-to-analog converter.
 9. The module of claim 2, wherein the core module is at least one of an Ethernet access module or a Digital Subscriber Loop (DSL) module.
 10. The module of claim 9, further comprising an Ethernet controller and a transceiver.
 11. The module of claim 2, wherein the core module is a telephonic access module.
 12. The module of claim 11, wherein the WAN communication device is a modem.
 13. The module of claim 11, further comprising an analog-to-digital converter, a digital-to-analog converter, and a codec.
 14. The module of claim 2, wherein the LAN communication device is an RF transceiver.
 15. The module of claim 2, wherein at least one of the LAN communication device and the WAN communication device is a bi-directional communication device.
 16. The module of claim 2, wherein at least one of the LAN communication device and the WAN communication device is a wireless communication device.
 17. The module of claim 2, wherein the first communications protocol and the second communications protocol are different.
 18. The module of claim 2, wherein a plurality of modules can communicate with each other.
 19. The module of claim 2, wherein the core module is removable.
 20. The module of claim 2, wherein the module is in communication with at least one of a vending machine, a thermostat, a switch, a utility meter, and a kitchen appliance.
 21. The module of claim 2, wherein the cluster communications module at least receives messages from at least one server and retransmits the messages to at least one appliance or receives message from at least one appliance and retransmits the message to at least one server. 